Considered by many to be the greatest jazz vocalist of all time, Billie Holiday lived a tempestuous and difficult life. Her singing expressed an incredible depth of emotion that spoke of hard times and injustice as well as triumph. Though her career was relatively short and often erratic, she left behind a body of work as great as any vocalist before or since.
Born Eleanora Fagan in 1915, Billie Holiday spent much of her young life in Baltimore, Maryland. Raised primarily by her mother, Holiday had only a tenuous connection with her father, who was a jazz guitarist in Fletcher Henderson’s band. Living in extreme poverty, Holiday dropped out of school in the fifth grade and found a job running errands in a brothel. When she was twelve, Holiday moved with her mother to Harlem, where she was eventually arrested for prostitution.
Desperate for money, Holiday looked for work as a dancer at a Harlem speakeasy. When there wasn’t an opening for a dancer, she auditioned as a singer. Long interested in both jazz and blues, Holiday wowed the owner and found herself singing at the popular Pod and Jerry’s Log Cabin. This led to a number of other jobs in Harlem jazz clubs, and by 1933 she had her first major breakthrough. She was only twenty when the well-connected jazz writer and producer John Hammond heard her fill in for a better-known performer. Soon after, he reported that she was the greatest singer he had ever heard. Her bluesy vocal style brought a slow and rough quality to the jazz standards that were often upbeat and light. This combination made for poignant and distinctive renditions of songs that were already standards. By slowing the tone with emotive vocals that reset the timing and rhythm, she added a new dimension to jazz singing.
With Hammond’s support, Holiday spent much of the 1930s working with a range of great jazz musicians, including Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson, Duke Ellington, Ben Webster, and most importantly, the saxophonist Lester Young. Together, Young and Holiday would create some of the greatest jazz recordings of all time. They were close friends throughout their lives—giving each other their now-famous nicknames of “Lady Day” and the “Prez.” Sympathetic to Holiday’s unique style, Young helped her create music that would best highlight her unconventional talents. With songs like “This Year’s Kisses” and “Mean To Me,” the two composed a perfect collaboration.
It was not, however, until 1939, with her song “Strange Fruit,” that Holiday found her real audience. A deeply powerful song about lynching, “Strange Fruit” was a revelation in its disturbing and emotional condemnation of racism. Holiday’s voice could be both quiet and strong at the same time. Songs such as “God Bless the Child” and “Gloomy Sunday” expressed not only her undeniable talent, but her incredible pain as well. Due to constant racial attacks, Holiday had a difficult time touring and spent much of the 1940s working in New York. While her popularity was growing, Holiday’s personal life remained troubled. Though one of the highest paid performers of the time, much of her income went to pay for her serious drug addictions. Though plagued by health problems, bad relationships, and addiction, Holiday remained an unequaled performer.
By the late 1940s, after the death of her mother, Holiday’s heroin addiction became so bad she was repeatedly arrested— eventually checking herself into an institution in the hopes of breaking her habit. By 1950, the authorities denied her a license to perform in establishments selling alcohol. Though she continued to record and perform afterward, this marked the major turning point in her career. For the next seven years, Holiday would slip deeper into alcoholism and begin to lose control of her once perfect voice. In 1959, after the death of her good friend Lester Young and with almost nothing to her name, Billie Holiday died at the age of forty-four. During her lifetime she had fought racism and sexism, and in the face of great personal difficulties triumphed through a deep artistic spirit. It is a tragedy that only after her death could a society, who had so often held her down, realize that in her voice could be heard the true voice of the times.
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I have often wondered that in times of great adversity, there emerge people like Billie Holiday. Blessed with such a voice she had to endure a life that would not allow her to create more flawlessly a greater body of work. But, it seems that the pain of the times and the absence of a quality male in her life, (not Lester Young, her musical partner) might and I say might have made this once beautiful woman fulfilled.
Even though she died in 1959, my heart bleeds for her.
Melvin Grier
I just finished watching the Dianna Ross’s version of Billie Holiday, “Lady Sings The Blues”. It was a story that began sad and ended up sad. I have always admired Billie Holiday and her music. I wished that she could have been more into control of her drug addiction, for she, I’m sure, would have become a mega-Superstar! Although her life was cut short, she was the Mega-Superstar of her time. Her records are still selling today. I brought three of them last month for my Evolution of Jazz class. A toast to Outstanding Performer, Billie Holiday.
i really do get inspired when I read about his women and her struggle through life. she overcame many obstacles, if she was to be alive today she would be a top DOG in the music industry love her work and admire her greatly
Haaha, Im doing a music project on Billie Holiday, Im learning alot from her :)
i neva new such a woman like Billie Holiday she was a amazine singer and she lived her life like she wanted to
i love this woman
I LOVE BILLIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love billi holiday!!!!!!!!!!1 she the best!!!
Im doing a school report/project on billie and she is sooooo amazing.
i love billie she rox!
Billie was a phenomenon. It’s sad realizing that the passion of her music came from the life she lived, without the adversities she had to endure she might not have been the legand she’s beocme. Thanks Ms. Holiday for giving us all a small part of your soul.
i am also doing a school report on billie. 6 page essay as a matter of fact…it’s boring so far.
i’m doing a report too. yay…
I am doing a history fair on billi, it is in fact NOT boring, she is a very interesting person. And veryyyy pretty.
Im also doing a project on Billie Holiday and its great!!!
haha omg is every one here doing a report on billie holiday haha because I AM TOO!!!! <3 =]
a fantastic singer. never would have discovered her talent if she didn’t get on stage and try. as she inspires me to greater things, i must be weary of drug addiction, it can afflict any of us. BE careful out there
HOT!!
When will they re-air this episode? I love Billie!
Wow, she’s a really inspiring independent women that went through a lot! I am doing a report on her!
Its a tragedy. I just wish I could of seen her. I love her voice. The good do die young.
WOW,I DID NOT KNOW SHE WAS A GIRL
she is so good when i first heard her name i thought billie was a boy but then i thought well billie can be a girls name then i heard her WONDERFUL.I HAD 2 DO A PROJECT ON HER FOR MY MUSIC CLASS. I DID NOT KNOW SHE WAS THIS GOOD!
I have to do her for black history month. She is amazing!!
im doing a project about billie and im learning alot!!:)
I am doing a project on jazz in the 50’s and I am honored to have her part of my project
I think that if Billie Holiday was alive today she could be on american idol.
I love you billie Holiday thats why i picked you as my person for my black history month project. You were the best and my favorite song of your is “I’LL BE SEEIN YOU!” This page has taught me alot about you. :-)
this is amazing and she is a good singer………=)
She was one most Jazz Singer’s of all times to me being a woman.She is truly missed in this cold hard world.Music is not the same anymore now, everything is so violent.
I’m doing a report on Holiday, she is really great, but her life was not so great, and i’m kind of confused, becuase i dont really understand what is did to have a good influence on african americans, is has to be something, i know its her singing, but what about her singing? i dont know…sigh…
ok….now i see. i get it now, my bad…
im doing a thing about her for school im learning about her and i HAVE LEARNED ALOT!!!
billie is so amazing
Billie Holiday. When I hear that name I think to myself”That’s is a name that I am gonna remember”. When Coach Smith told me to pick a name and I picked Billie Holiday,I thought that this was gonna be boring,but it wasn’t. So maybe Billie was a prostitute. Oh well we all do things that we are not proud of. Billie is one of my idols. She is amazing,especially the fact that in her life,she fought racism and sexism. I don’t think that I would have enough courage to do that. Billie also did drugs. A lot of people do. But sadly you died from drinking and doing drugs. If you were alive today,I would be a big fan. I have been doing a lot of research on you Billie.Your my hero.
i am doing a project on her to. lol.
i am doing a biography rite now and reading this is just sad. i cant believe she wasted her life on drugs. well, the movie was good “lady sing the blues” yall should watch sum time diana ross played a good role on her.
lol im also doing a project on her.
My teacher asked the whole class to pick a black person to do our black history report on an I picked Billie Holiday I think she is so great.
thanks for being a great singer.
As an poetic artist, I’m confident she would have given my intense, deep soul rhythm words electric color. My daughter is also born on April 7, what a gift.
Wow! her life was so tragic but had such a strong impact on other people. when i was assigned her for a report i thought that it would be really biring and stupid, but it really isn’t her life may have been really bad but the things that she did for music today is just amazing and thank you for helping me for my report i really apericate it. kepp up the good work :)
I LOVE BILLIE HOLIDAY:]
Billie Holiday died on the same day I was born–July 17. The year ceases to matter. Because, though born 6o+ years apart, I believe that her music is as relevant now as it was when she first sang “Strange Fruit” at Cafe Society in 1939. The audience now may not seem as reluctant to be caught listening to such an evocative song but we are just as cautious to face the reality that discrimination, in all forms, coming in all guises, still remains a human flaw that rears it’s ugly head in today’s society. Billie Holiday was a courageous woman of her time. She passionately sang “Strange Fruit” as an ode to people that died in the hands of others, their only crime–being born with skin of the “wrong” color.
I was blessed to be in a music class where our teacher gave much emphasis and tribute to Billie Holiday and her music, including “Strange Fruit”. As we wrapped up the assignment, she left us with a burning question…”Now that you know this, what are you going to do about it?” I decided to be an advocate. Writing this comment, I know, will reach others who can appreciate Lady Day and her legacy to the rest of the world–her music. If I learned anything important it is this: How a person lives her life is her own. How a person chooses to be remembered is to pay homage to the legacy she left behind–her music.
wow this girl is the reason why i don’t want to even listen to todays music i love listening to the oldies!!!
im doing a reseach paper on her and i never knew about the struggle she had to go through to be the amazing singer that she is
I have a project on Billie and she is very intresting and after i read i was kinda shocked about it and she seems like she a pretty interesting life
I’m doing my work on my page and i love this singer and i need alot for my work thanx ok? love that wommen:-)
she can really sing
haha, im doing a report on her !
& she’s pretty awesome. [ :
This page is really helping me with my music project, i’m not going to fail! Yay me <3
i fell so sorry 4 billie holiday but that was my girl
Billie holiday was a very great person and all the things she had to go throw wiyh out her father being there for her. But she did what she had to. And she’s a wounderful person and i look up to her for that, although she had her problems .lol..
her life was pretty interesting
wow!!!!!! i am helping my 7 yo daughter with her project on Billie Hiliday. What an awesome singer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!She was beautiful,talented and had such deep soul and passion… May we remember her forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Billie Holiday. When I hear that name I think to myself”That’s is a name that I am gonna remember”. When Coach Smith told me to pick a name and I picked Billie Holiday,I thought that this was gonna be boring,but it wasn’t. So maybe Billie was a prostitute. Oh well we all do things that we are not proud of. Billie is one of my idols. She is amazing,especially the fact that in her life,she fought racism and sexism. I don’t think that I would have enough courage to do that. Billie also did drugs. A lot of people do. But sadly you died from drinking and doing drugs. If you were alive today,I would be a big fan. I have been doing a lot of research on you Billie.Your my hero.
billie is ok not dat fascintin but wondreful i have a report on her
im doing a project on her she is really interesting to learn about
I ve heard her forever…..heard ’strange fruit’ as a teenager in the 60’s,and wept for her…..but it wasnt until i saw her story over tv,maybe a&e, a long time ago, did i realize her voice.
An icon of of our times; a forerunner of janis joplin, jimi hendtix, james dean,chuck berry,..others… and i wish she could somehow know, within this ’spiritus mundi’, how her suffering added to our life, making it being a better place to be.
dg
it’s really sad just knowning that such a wonderful and talented singer/songwriter had to endure so much pain in her life and unforgiving cruelty seen through her eyes only to be able to release it in her songs. i have seen movies and pictures of such happenings,but can we all picture the realism of what she had to live with inside her every moment.a picture is a picture but what she had to live with destroyed a legened,her!
I,M DOING A PROJECT ON WOMEN HISTORY AND SHE MADE A HUGE ACCOMPLISHMENT TO IT SHE IS SO AMAZING
i”m doing a report on her too she is wonderful i just got done wachin lady sing the blues awsome!!!!!
p.s read what anne said it was so understanding
Billie Holiday inspired me to sing, without her I’m nothing, i love u Billie Holiday!!!!
she is amazing shes great so much to learn about her
billie holliday is my hero!!! we already share the same name and people always think Im a boy before they see me. im doing a report on her for school and she is very interesting to read about. Her voice is also amazing i wish i had a voice like hers. I LOVE YOU BILLIE!!!!!
Billie is my idol. My life has not been perfect like billie’s but she still got to be famous and live her dream. i hope to be a famous singer someday. my voice is sort of like hers but a little more angelic. If i cud spend 1 day w/ a dead person id spend it w/ her.
Lady Day, man we have so much in common.My life has some of her similarities and like her I have tried to find ways of dealing with what has happened to me. I haven’t made it to drugs as of yet, and I pray I never do. I have read her story several times and thank god I did not go thru as much as she did.But, I am sadden that she had to. I can only wish that she can know the love we all send her as mere mortals waiting for our turn at the gate. Billie, Thank you for the music, your beauty and the lessons we all can learn from such and incredible woman~e
Billie Holiday was such an inspiration to me and about everybody reply or writing a comment. i believe to this day Holiday would have a huge impact among the people today because she’s been through so much in her everyday life well growing up, and all the hardships came through her songs. im glad i got to get an insite on her life and her beautiful soul. and also im doing a final project on Billie Holiday, she’s great.
I OFTEN WONDERED ABOUT BILLIE HOLIDAY AND TO KNOW THAT SHE HAD SUCH A STRONG ADDICTION IS SO SHOCKING TO ME. TRULY, EVERY LEGENDARY SINGER HAVE THEIR TRIALS AND TRIUMPHS AND IT MADE THEM THE MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE OF OUR TIME AND CULTURE.
Billie Holiday may have had a hard life but God gave her the gift of song. The love and lessens she gave the world through her songs gives us hope, truth and inspiration to change the world. She live in an era were hated tried to control minds but Billie was a queen withput an army and stood up for the people the world will always have love for compassionate and loving beings. Thanku Lady Day for for shinning your light. People don’t remember the pain stay in the Love just as Lady Day did she knew Love would set us all free. My heart loves you for ever.
Eveery since I saw the bio with The Great Diana Ross playing Miss Billie Holiday I became curious to know more about the true Billie Holiday and I fell in Love. She was sucjh and amazing person with a big heart for hope and chance but not enough people recoginzed her strength. I would have been glad to see her make now but all artist are praised much less dead then alive; Look at Micheal Jackson he is worth more now then he was alive and even in death he is still talked about but highly praised. I Have Love for them both they meant a lot to me and gave me hope to never give up no matter if you get support or not DREAM BIG AND try your best. For we are to have confidence within ourselves and ourselves alone. GOD BLESS –ONE TRUE FAN
I love billi holiday her music life stlye my heeerrooo.along with aaliyah dana hougton
I wish Billie had loved Billie as much as others loved her. Why does so much talent require so much pain?
i feel that Miss Billie Holiday was one of the best jazz singers of her time. what would the jazz world be like had she live. R.I.P. Miss Holiday
Though i khew most of what happed i didnt know every piece of info. She sure was a mood of her own i knew about the drugs and poverty, racism wow what a strong women with grate talent that was taken too young. thx for the extra info.